LCS Proving Grounds Summer 2022 preview

The road to the LCS isn’t easy, but with the current infrastructure of League of Legends tournaments and competition, Riot Games is making it more possible.

Ever since the franchising process took place in the North American League Championship Series, the development scene has been on the come up. Below the LCS league, there are multiple layers of competition that take place concurrently with it. After the LCS Academy Split is done alongside the two Open Qualifiers, 20 teams enter the final stage of the Proving Grounds Circuit.

LCS Proving Grounds Summer 2022 is hosted by Riot to nurture young talent in the scene. The competition with a prize pool of $100,000 will be played online, with only North American teams participating. The event kicks off on August 3 and will run until the end of the month.

Proving Grounds Summer 2022

After a successful Proving Grounds Summer Circuit, which saw the highest number of participants op far, the LCS Proving Grounds Summer 2022 has high standards to meet. Last year’s prospects, Kyle “Danny” Sakamaki and Joseph “Jojopyun” Pyun, managed to lift the LCS trophy under the Evil Geniuses banner in less than a year of completing the circuit. That achievement alone is proof that investing into the Academy and Amateur ecosystem pays off, especially when it’s full of eager young talent.

Tournament preview

Team Liquid Academy have a long journey in front of them en route to their title defense. Their young but already LCS-experienced core of Sean “Yeon” Sung, Bill “Eyla” Nguyen, and Jonathan “Armao” Armao look to claim their third straight title, with the 100 Thieves Academy being their closest rival. We will see if Milan “Tenacity” Oleksij, the 100T Academy top laner, can carry his team to the Grand Final for the third straight split. Cloud9 Academy have also assembled a very competitive roster, consisting of LCS veterans and young talents like Jade “Sheiden” Libut and Jouhan “Copy” Pathmanathan.

Maybe some of the Amateur squads will upset an Academy roster to put a spotlight on themselves. Small wins like those are the first steps to getting recognized, and this stage of the circuit surely isn’t lacking in storylines or narratives.

Format

The Proving Grounds Summer 2022 event casts all 20 contestants in a double-elimination bracket. The 10 Academy teams will match up against the top 10 teams that qualified through Amateur Proving Grounds Circuit Qualifier events. 

The bottom four Academy teams will face off against the bottom four Amateur teams in four single-elimination Play-In matches to enter the main bracket. 

These matches will kick off the competition on August 3:

• 3:00 PM PT: GG Academy vs. EG Prodigies 
• 3:00 PM PT: EG Academy vs. CLG Faith
• ~5:00 PM PT: IMT Academy vs. DK Crew
• ~5:00 PM PT: TSM Academy vs. Maryville Uni

The winners will be matched up against the Main Stage line-up:

• 100 Thieves Academy
• Cloud9 Academy
• CLG Academy
• Dignitas Academy
• FlyQuest Academy
• Team Liquid Academy
• 100 Thieves Next
• AOE Ginger Turmeric
• AOE Esports
• Cincinnati Fear
• Taco Gaming
• Team Pending

All matches will be best-of-three, except for the lower bracket final, upper bracket final, and Grand Final, which will be best-of-fives. Moreover, the final four teams will play the remaining matches on LAN in the LCS studio after which the Proving Grounds Summer Champion will be crowned.

Header: Riot Games